Globe goes full throttle with Lotus F1

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Staff Writer

01 July 2014

Globe Telecom has completed upgrading its entire network to support 3G data speeds and has partnered with the Lotus F1 team for the publicity blitz.

Globe has trumped rival Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) by almost a quarter to become the first telco in the country to achieve 100% 3G coverage and promises to have full HSPA+ coverage in the next 90 days.

To celebrate the milestone, Globe and Lotus F1 will be transforming a portion of the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig into a 3-kilometre long street race circuit and party venue for the Globe Speed Day scheduled on 30 August, presenting Marlon Stockinger, the first Filipino to ever win a Formula One race in Europe.

The Filipino-Swiss racing champ will tear through the business district driving a Lotus-Gravity Charouz Formula Renault 3.5 race car to give the public a rare opportunity to get up close with an authentic F1 race car on the road.

The Lotus F1 conducted a similar road show from 4 - 5 May last year called the Manila Speed Show, where Globe Tattoo is a sponsor. Now as an exclusive business partner and Stockinger's telco partner, Globe and Lotus F1 decided to co-produce the Globe Speed Day and condense it into a one-day event.

“Those are the streets that I drive and walk on and to see a Formula One car going down that same street is quite special. It makes the feeling of speed that much real,” Peter Bithos, Globe Telecom chief operating advisor, said.

Bithos explains that associating Globe with the world’s fastest sports and Stockinger is a “perfect analogy” to the company’s efforts to deliver fast and reliable service to its over 43 million customers.

“There is no better way to explain how speed changes things than demonstrating it in a Formula 1 experience. A Formula 1 car uses sophisticated technology, a tremendous team, millions of dollars in investment just like we have to deliver one simple experience- to deliver a speed rush.”

Bithos confirmed that the Lotus F1 team currently does not carry Globe branding on its racing cars. "That's quite purposeful because we are supporting not just Lotus but Marlon specifically, so it's both Marlon and Formula One" he adds.

"For us, it wouldn't mean a thing without Marlon there. Marlon is the Philippine connection to the Formula One," he said.

Ernest Cu, Globe president and CEO, shared that the event is also meant to introduce F1 racing to Filipinos. A little known sport in a country dominated by boxing, basketball, billiards and most recently ice skating, Cu is expecting that Globe's continued support to Stockinger will “create immense Filipino pride to put one of our own into the driver seat of an F1 car.”

With Stockinger being potentially the first Filipino to achieve the feat, Bithos said that “his rise mimics what we are all going through in the Philippines today… we are innovative and are doing things that nobody else is doing.”